


listen, listen

by Alitheia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drabble, Happy Ending, M/M, my s4 and s6 feels in one fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-26 12:35:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15000998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alitheia/pseuds/Alitheia
Summary: People said life flashes before your eyes when you’re about to die, when air is stolen from your lungs and voices dwindle, leaving you a quiescent state in which there is no sound. Keith knew they were wrong.Death was loud.





	listen, listen

**Author's Note:**

> a quick drabble because i still can't get over s6, if anyone wanna scream with me over this season and sheith then i'm on twitter [@allitheia](https://twitter.com/allitheia)<3

**i.**

People said life flashes before your eyes when you’re about to die. Colors and pictures overlapping like cuts from a film that were played too fast, reliving moments that are both too brief to catch yet too long to ignore, while air is stolen from your lungs and voices dwindle, leaving you a quiescent state in which there is no sound. Keith knew they were wrong.

Death was loud.

It yelled at him in the rumbling of the fighter engine, in panic shouts through the open comms, in blasts and fires that surrounded them. Death was staring at the madness outside and realizing that they would not win, that a bomb in a size of a planet would turn every living being throughout the whole solar system and beyond into one giant firework within seconds. Keith heard every single thing, from the adrenaline pumped in his vessels, the short whiff of his own breath, the thought roaring somewhere deep inside his head, _this is stupid, this is stupid, this is stupid—_

But for Keith, it’s always been everything or nothing, and no in between. He heard his own voice, saying that they wouldn’t penetrate the cruiser’s shield with their weapons, low and composed as if he didn’t just give himself a death penalty. There’s no more time, there’s no other way. He’d done a lot of stupid things in life anyway, this one’s just happened to be on top of the list, but if he could save the Paladins of Voltron and everybody else, then anything would be worth it. Even if he hadn’t been able to adjust completely to the way the Blades did things, at least they taught him something; you are to prioritize the mission above everything else, even at the cost of your life. Keith’s ultimate mission had always been a person, and he’d do everything to protect him.

Ignoring all voices, he turned his ship and flew it straight into the shields. Fear howled at him like a hurricane, so Keith shut his eyes, letting his instincts guide. Apology formed at the back of his eyelids in a figure of a man. Keith didn’t want to die just yet, at least not without saying goodbye. He shouldn’t have had stayed silent, but now it’s a little too late.

 

**v.**

“I died, Keith.”

**ii.**

The second time it’d been so close, death was _too_ loud. It reverberated in the air when their swords clashed, pounded in Keith’s chest along with his heart, jumped out of his lips in a desperate cry—“ _Shiro!_ ”

But this Shiro was simply not the Shiro he knew. It wasn’t the Shiro who’d say his name quietly and smile. It wasn’t the Shiro who’d put a hand on his shoulder in a silent act of support and understanding, it wasn’t the one who’d gaze into his eyes as they exchange soundless words. This was a different Shiro, and no matter how loud Keith tried to reason, this Shiro wouldn’t listen.

Everything came down crumbling, burned. The world turned into rubble in a deafening crash as they tumbled and grappled, but the only thing he heard were memories, played like a compilation of his favorite scenes from a short film that was his life; Shiro talking, Shiro laughing, Shiro calling his name. All too quick for him to hold, yet too ingrained in him to forget. The man before him now might not be his Shiro, but Keith never stopped believing that he was still in there, waiting, listening. Keith just needed to find him. And he’d done it once, then twice, he’d do it again no matter how many times it’d take.

Death was the burn on his cheek. Death was his own scream and the plead to Shiro that still wasn’t enough to reach, but Keith didn’t cross universes for nothing. He’s here to bring Shiro back, even if it would be the last thing he do. So, he let it all out, honest and open and loud,

“I love you.”

 

**iii.**

When the Galra arm was gone, so was the Shiro that tried to kill Keith. He hated being the one that had to do it, to take away again a part of Shiro and see him in pain. Keith held his distance, bracing himself for the next charge, but the other man only looked up at him and said, almost in a whisper, “ _Keith_ ,” and he knew instantly it was the Shiro he’d been looking for.

Then the ground under them gave up, and in a blink of an eye he found himself holding Shiro by the hand, hanging just a little bit above their death. He couldn’t pull them up, and his knife was slowly losing its grip. There’s no way out, there’s nothing he could do. Keith stared down at the man, unconscious against a backdrop of endless white. His shoulders burned, every joint in his body screamed. Keith had done a lot of stupid things in life, but letting go now would never be one of them.

They fell.

He closed his eyes. Once because he had been afraid, now because he had accepted.

People said life flashes before your eyes when you’re about to die—but maybe they weren’t so wrong in the end, because all he saw was Shiro and he thought, _this is all right, this is all right, this is all right_. Because there would be no meaning to living a life in which Shiro didn’t exist, because Keith had told him everything that ever mattered. He had no regrets.

Death was loud; his love was quiet.

 

**iv.**

(They promised to never give up on each other, after all.)

 

 

 

**vi.**

Keith found out that life was a soft sigh and three words, “You found me.”

Death might be loud, but Shiro still heard him.

**Author's Note:**

> not connected to this fic but in case anyone wanted to read what i wrote after s4, you can find it [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13232601). thanks for reading!


End file.
